How a Glencoe, Ont., cow named Mr. Moo brought joy and blessings to a couple from India

In a barn in Glencoe, Ont., on a warm October day, Megha Patel and her husband, Mitesh Prajapati, both 35, were able to perform a ritual they've been desperate to take part in for more than two years. 

It's an important part of their faith and something they'd do back home in India on an almost daily basis — touching and feeding a cow, considered a sacred animal in the Hindu tradition — but something the couple has been missing here in Canada. 

"I am so happy now and so emotional," said Patel earlier this week, beaming as a steer named Mr. Moo, hesitant at first, ate the flatbread, honey, and other food she had prepared into the night.

Patel's auspicious meeting with Mr. Moo and an entire pasture of cows at a neighbouring farm is thanks to Jennifer Howald, Patel's co-worker at a pharmacy supply business in nearby London, Ont. 

"It's something we've been talking about since the winter. I drive past cows to and from work, and it means a lot to her, she obviously has rituals that come around all the time, and they've tried to get back home to India two or three times and haven't been able to," Howald said. 

Howald put a call out on a Glencoe community Facebook group, asking if anyone had a cow they'd be willing to allow to participate in a ritual, and many people stepped forward. Retired schoolteacher Pam Moor-Bruggeman was the first, and her steer Mr. Moo, who had performed in commercials before coming to her farm and was comfortable with people, was chosen. 

Patel and her husband have had had trouble conceiving and believe that being unable to perform the blessings and rituals of their faith may be at least in part to blame.